A word about Baptism because of some misunderstandings I heard from good holy practicing Catholics.
We more mature folks will remember the traditional definition of Baptism from the Baltimore Catechism.
“Baptism is the sacrament that gives our souls the new life of sanctifying grace by which we become children of God and heirs of heaven.”
The Catechism of the Catholic Church amplifies this tradition definition by quoting Romans 6: 3-4. 3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptizedb into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into deathc in order that, just as Christ was raised from the deadd through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
The question that arose revolves around Baptism in case of emergency when an unbaptized person might die before receiving Baptism.
In the Catholic Church the ordinary ministers of Baptism are a bishop, a priest, and in the Latin Rite, a deacon. Even a non-baptized person or even an atheist can baptize in an emergency by pouring ordinary water (no other liquid is valid matter) on the head of the person to be baptized, saying the Trinitarian formula “I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit” with the intention of doing what the Catholic Church believes about Baptism even if they don’t.
If in some unusual circumstance the person to be baptized’s head is not accessible, the water may be poured on any part of the body by way of exception.
It should be noted that it is an abuse, for example, for a grandparent to “secretly” baptize a grandchild whose parents have not and probably will not have him/her baptized.
What about limbo? Limbo has never been an official teaching of the Catholic Church. Briefly The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches:
1261 As regards children who have died without Baptism, the Church can only entrust them to the mercy of God, as she does in her funeral rites for them. Indeed, the great mercy of God who desires that all men should be saved, and Jesus’ tenderness toward children which caused him to say: “Let the children come to me, do not hinder them, “allow us to hope that there is a way of salvation for children who have died without Baptism. All the more urgent is the Church’s call not to prevent little children coming to Christ through the gift of holy Baptism.
Saint James Catholic Church 